Travel Blogs from Kannur, India

... packed.... had a lunch off banana leaves (Mark loves eating with his hands) and then our last two trains....almost got stuck in the middle of a dust up on the last train (...never a dull moment in india) arrived fairly late in allepay fairly ...

... rolling across the seats into each other. A bus ride and roller coaster in one! 5 hours later we arrived back in Cochi and then got the train to Kannur. We arrived at Kannur at 8pm so it had been a long day but we didn't care, we were just happy to be at ...

Kannur isn't very touristy at all so not many cafés were selling continental breakfast so we had an indian style brekkie of partothas and bean curry which was yummy! We are beginning to get slightly addicted to these parothas. We then asked a ...

Today we went to the main beach at Kannur which was fairly quiet again and very very hot! On the way back we tried to find a fishing shop so Luke could buy some fishing line etc. we asked a few people who just told us where we could buy actual fish from! ...

... came through, and driving if possible seemed worse. Potholes quickly buckled my tyre again by the time we finally reached Mascot Beach Resort, Kannur at 6.30 just as it got dark ( we tried other places first) I was totally demoralised by the heat, 62 ...

... there was a carnival on tonight as there is a three day festival starting in Telicherry today (there's always a festival for something in India).Tonight's performance turned out to be very similar to that which i saw in Cochin, but of a lesser quality. ...

... the sea is lovely. We all went to visit a local school today called Kuttikkakam South Aided Lower Primary School to see what schooling in India was like. The school is very small and built under a giant mango tree which is 200 years old. We went into the ...

... pulled into Kannur and I had pretty much decided, in my head, that I would stop here overnight. Marco Polo had mentioned Kannur at some point during his travels. It was also a convenient place to organise a trip to the Weyand Wildlife Sancturay to ...

... affluent ? Where did the money come from for their creation and their upkeep ? What is the status of the Tibetans in India ? refugees ? Residents ? Citizens ? Are they accepted or merely tolerated ? How does one get admitted to a monastery ? Where do the ...

... above it (well, at least like they're from the same continent!). Anyway, all of that aside, my real reason for visiting Kannur and for staying at Costa Malabari is Theyyam. Theyyam is a ritual dance performed in this area of Kerala which predates ...

... . Big fresh tuna steaks, cooked in chilli and coconut, and spicy fresh vegetables (not the oily, sickly curries of northern India). Absolutely delicious, and huge portions that even we couldn't finish!
We were joined in the hotel by a German couple and ...

... and Bhadrakali come. Theyyams become harsher and brighter as the night progresses. There are over 50 varieties of Theyyams in Kannur and Kasaragode districts in north Kerala. But Pattathil House always had a fixed schedule.
Attendance is full again at ...

... back of the train and into our uncomfortable seats (imagine Ryanair with even less frills) for the next 6 hours. We arrived at Kannur that evening and jumped into the first rikshaw we were offered. Turned out to be a great guy who came back ...

Today we went to the secret beach. It's a beach no one knows about but us (we think). The beach has crimson sand that stuck to you and loads of swirly,shiny shells that glisten in the sun. We also named some rocks that you see on the way to the ...

... time we reach a bend , and there are many , many bends on this road across the Western Ghats and down the mountain pass. We near Kannur with relief and phone our host to ask for directions - just in time to watch our driver drive the wrong way down a dual ...

Keeping up the trend of relaxing we headed out to the coast to a guesthouse near the town of Kannur. The place we stayed is quite isolated and away from all the usual hub-bub of Indian cities, and only a few minutes walk from a few very local and ...

Stopped in Kannur (Cannonore) in search of some theyyam temple
dancing. I wanted the real deal, going miles away on a
motorcycle, to watch the gods come to life in a dance that lasts hours
and to fall asleep at dawn on the temple ...

... mess and the military hospital. There are a lot of soldiers around though, most looking quite out of shape so fingers crossed Kannur doesn't get invaded any time soon! My favourite officers are the Sikhs - their khaki uniforms are topped off with royal ...

Lovely bus ride down from the hills and to the Keralan coast. Arrived late in Kannur. Nothing happened. Didn't even manage to blog. Ate an average Chana Masala. Left again the next morning for a nearby village. ...

Winding our way up the Kerala coast, we find ourself in Kannur. Pile off the train, me and Rich have a wee scout about to get a hotel. Near the station, fairly central and cheap (about 1.50gbp each per night)job is a good 'un. After about 30 minutes Dan ...

... and ask for photo. Jesmar even played football with a group of local boys on the beach.
While in Kannur we also attended to Theyyam - a Hindi ritual dance of which we did not understand a thing but being in the temple ...

... that helped Cath get better and us erase the horrible hotel from the night before.
Visited a snake farm a few km's from Kannur on Monday. This was dissapointing though as all the animals/reptiles were kept in pretty poor conditions. We got some late ...

Kannur is a coastal city of 500,000 in the state of Kerala. Nice stop for a day or two. The route from Madikeri to here took us through dense forested hills and very bad roads via 3 buses over 6 hours for a total cost of about $2 ...

... lovely staying here and we felt like we were leaving old friends as our taxi pulled out of the driveway. The taxi to Kannur took around 3 hours and took us through the rest of the National Park into the highlands and tea plantations, before heading down ...